Travel & Accomodation

How to get to Lleida

By plane

The airports with international connections are Barcelona-El Prat and Madrid-Barajas.

Barcelona-El Prat Airport

Barcelona is about 160 km from Lleida but both cities are well connected by a High Speed Train (AVE) and other fast trains (AVANT) with the journey taking a little more than one hour (from Barcelona-Sants Station to Lleida-Pirineus Station). The airport is situated 12 km southwest from the centre of Barcelona. Once at the Barcelona-El Prat Airport you have to go to the airport train station and take the train shuttle to Barcelona, getting off at the railway station named Barcelona-Sants Station. A taxi ride to Barcelona-Sants station from the airport may cost around 25-30 €.

The train station at the airport to get to the Barcelona-Sants Station is situated opposite the T2 and it is connected to this terminal via an air bridge. Once at the airport station, you should take the suburban train (R2 North Airport line- Sant Celoni / Maçanet Massanes) and stop at Barcelona-Sants Station. The R2 line, which connects Terminal T2 with Sant Celoni / Maçanet Massanes, stops at: Airport – El Prat de Llobregat – Bellvitge – Barcelona-Sants Station. The trip takes 22 minutes. The train runs from 05:42 to 23:38 every 30 minutes. Once at Barcelona-Sants Estation, take an AVE or an AVANT train to Lleida-Pirineus Station (see the ‘By train’ section below for details).

Madrid-Barajas Airport

Accessible by car, bus and train (from Madrid-Atocha Station) Madrid is about 460 km from Lleida, but both cities are well connected by a High Speed Train (AVE) and other fast trains (Altaria) and the journey takes a little more than 2 hours. The airport is situated 12 km northeast from the centre of Madrid. Once at the airport (Madrid Barajas), you have to go to the Madrid railway station named Atocha Station.

Barajas Airport is connected to Madrid by metro (line 8) with 2 subway stations: Metro Aeropuerto T1-T2-T3 found at Terminal 2, and Metro Aeropuerto T4 found at Terminal 4. To go to Atocha Renfe, you need to make some transfers as shown below:

Pink Line (Number 8) from Barajas to Nuevos Ministerios.

Grey Line (Number 6) from Nuevos Ministerios to Pacífico.

Light Blue Line (Number 1) from Pacífico to Atocha RENFE station.

The trip takes 45-60 minutes. The price is 1 € approx. The cost of a single use metro ticket is 1€ and 7€ for a pack of 10 trips. Remember that it is necessary to pay extra to enter and exit the airport stations (T1,T2, T3 and T4). The amount is 1€ extra. The metro runs from 6 am to 2 am.

To get from Barajas airport to Atocha Station by train, take the new line C-1, which connects Terminal T4 with Príncipe Pío and several railway stations, and stops at: Fuente de la Mora, Chamartín, Nuevos Ministerios, Recoletos and Atocha. This time to Atocha is 25 minutes. Trains will run every 30 minutes, from 5.15 until 23.32 towards the airport and from 5.59 am until 0.15 towards Príncipe Pío. A single ticket costs €2.15, and it is free of charge for those who have an AVE ticket and have to catch a connecting flight. For more information, consult the Renfe Cercanias website or call +34 902 320 320.

By train

Lleida Pirineus Railway Station

The journey in AVE or AVANT trains takes about 1 h from Barcelona-Sants Station and 2h and 18 min from Madrid-Atocha Station. There may be other train types. Check the travel time before buying the tickets. Schedules and availability can be consulted at http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/index.html. If buying the tickets through internet you may only find the stations Barcelona (*) and Lleida without their complete names (there is only 1 train station in Lleida). Check the type of train and the travel time to make sure you are taking the right option.

A special discount (30% off) for participants travelling by AVE is available by presenting a ticket discount at any sales point (not valid on the internet).

Although you have to take the train shuttle to Barcelona-Sants Station (22 min) and have to carry your luggage along, the train is the fastest transport to Lleida.

By bus

Lleida Bus Station

There is a direct bus connection from Barcelona-El Prat airport to Lleida (visit the website of the bus company for schedule). Although this is the easiest connection, the bus first drives into Barcelona and stops in every important village along the way so the trip takes about 3 hours to arrive to Lleida!

By car

Distances in kilometres

Lleida is well connected by car with Barcelona (toll motorway AP-7 which connects to toll motorway AP-2, and motorway A-2) and with Madrid (motorway A-2). You may consider the possibility of renting a car in any airport. The four companies that operate at Lleida (and also in the other cities) are ATESA (www.atesa.es), AVIS (www.avis.es), EUROPCAR (www.europcar.es), and HERTZ (www.hertz.es). They have their offices in or close to Lleida railway.